Thank you for the question.
In Budget 2007 the government announced three fairly significant regulatory reform initiatives. One was a major project review office led by Natural Resources Canada.
A second was a paper reduction exercise led by the Department of Industry.
A third was a more comprehensive approach. It wasn't sector specific or short term; it was a cabinet directive on streamlining regulations. It called for some changes from the previous regulatory approach, specifically a more streamlined approach that would be much more sensitive in terms of the business impact; it would be more specific, quantified, monetized in terms of the benefits and costs of the regulations, and at the same time it would ensure protection with respect to public good on environment, safety, and health. It was a very specific and demanding cabinet directive with respect to regulatory reform.
This centre, which in this current year constitutes about $750,000 of that figure you quoted, has been established essentially to provide experts to departments to help them with complying with the benefit-cost analysis for requirements, for example, to do better performance measurement or develop service standards for those that are being regulated or applying for permits or approvals.
This kind of expertise is often hard to find. So rather than replicating that talent base in 30 different departments, it made more sense to establish a central centre of expertise that could provide that kind of information.
The balance of the resources you refer to are in our department to strengthen our challenge function, but also to enable us to provide guides, more assistance. It is also to develop some curriculum for training within the Canada School of Public Service to aid regulators in complying with the requirements of the directive.